Prior to the 2004 college football season, the Manning Award was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl in honor of the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. It is the only college football quarterback award that includes the candidates' bowl performances in its balloting; therefore, it is presented annually following the completion of the bowl season. The winner is selected by a panel of national media covering college football, as well as each of the Mannings.

After turning in one of the more impressive seasons by a collegiate quarterback in history, Marcus Mariota from the University of Oregon, has been selected as the 2014-15 winner of the Manning Award, presented by the Allstate Sugar Bowl to the top quarterback in the nation. The Manning Award, now in its 11th year, was created by the Allstate Sugar Bowl to honor the college football accomplishments of Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning. It is the only quarterback award that takes into consideration the candidates' bowl performances in its balloting. The award is voted on by a panel of local and national media, as well as each of the Mannings.

"On behalf of the Manning family and my sons Peyton and Eli, we want to thank the Allstate Sugar Bowl for creating this award," said Archie Manning. "This award is unique because we wait until after the bowl games to recognize the best quarterback in the country for the entire year. We are honored to present this year's Manning Award to Marcus Mariota. While he may not have finished the season exactly the way he hoped, nothing can take away from his consistently outstanding performance throughout the entire season."

Mariota, a product of Hawaii, was the consensus national player of the year for 2014 after setting Pac-12 records for total touchdowns (58) and total offense (5,224) and leading the nation in Total Quarterback Rating (90.8). He also became the first player in FBS history to finish a season with a plus-50 ratio of touchdowns to turnovers (seven). The redshirt junior became the first player in Pac-12 history to account for 5,000 yards of total offense in a single season, surpassing that mark with a 372-yard performance in the College Football Playoff National Championship game. He is the seventh Manning Award winner to lead his team to the college football championship game.

A three-year starter, Mariota led the Ducks to a 36-5 record, and set an NCAA record by passing for a touchdown in all 41 career starts. He is just the second quarterback in school history to lead Oregon to three postseason wins, and was the first three-time first-team all-Pac-12 quarterback in conference history.

Mariota is the second Pac-12 quarterback to win the honor, joining USC's Matt Leinart, who was selected in 2004-05, the inaugural season of the award.

In addition to the Manning Award's yearly honor, each week during the regular season, eight quarterbacks are recognized as Manning Quarterbacks of the Week. Sixty-two players from 58 different schools were honored during the 2014 season.

In its first 11 years, the Manning Award has recognized the top names in college football. It has honored quarterbacks from 10 different schools and from four different conferences. While the Southeastern Conference leads the way with four Manning Award winners (JaMarcus Russell, Tim Tebow, Cam Newton, Johnny Manziel), Texas is the only school with two winners (Vince Young and Colt McCoy).

Statistically, the Manning Award has seen a wide-range of quarterbacks. Seven of the Manning Award men threw for over 3,000 yards in their winning campaign, including 4,000-yard seasons from Jameis Winston, Robert Griffin, III, and Matt Ryan, who connected for over 4,500 yards during the 2007 season. On the other hand, Young, Manziel and Newton were both 1,000-yard rushers during their Manning years.

Perhaps most impressive among the statistics of the quarterbacks recognized by the Manning Award is touchdowns scored. Five of the winners accounted for over 40 touchdowns during their successful seasons, including 51 scores from Newton, who threw for 30 touchdowns, ran for 20 more and added a receiving TD.

One of the more unique aspects of the Manning Award is the fact that it takes into account the quarterbacks bowl performances, in addition to the regular season. Ten of the 11 Manning Award winners won bowl games during the season they won the honor; the lone loss was McCoy's in the 2010 BCS Championship game when he suffered an early injury. In addition to McCoy, five other Manning honorees (Matt Leinart, Young, Tebow, Newton and Winston) led their team to the BCS Championship game - all five emerged victorious.

Manning Award winners have also factored prominently in the NFL Draft as they all heard their names called on Draft Day (other than Winston, who will likely be a top pick in a future draft). Two honorees were selected No. 1 overall (Russell and Newton), while three others went No. 2 or No. 3 (Young, Ryan and Griffin).

All of the Manning Award winners follow in the footsteps of the Mannings themselves. In college, Archie, Peyton and Eli Manning combined for over 25,000 passing yards and 201 touchdowns while playing in 10 bowl games and earning four bowl MVP awards. Archie was the No. 2 pick in the NFL Draft, while both Peyton and Eli were selected No. 1 overall.